Wednesday, May 19, 2010

It's Always Good News For Republicans

Picking apart the media narrative generated by yesterday’s election has been interesting, to say the least. According to the media gatekeepers, Rand Paul’s win shows the power of the Tea Party, while the success of progressive candidates supported by MoveOn simply shows voters’ “anti-Washington mood.”

Neat how that works. Indeed, yesterday’s election was a big win for MoveOn candidates. Don’t expect our media to point that out, though.

It's hard to make the case that Specter's defeat in Pennsylvania is a sign Democrats want to move the party further to the left. Thirty years in office, mostly as a Republican, made it tough for him to sell himself to his new party. Ultimately, it was really about Arlen Specter. And voters apparently had had enough.

Really? How do you figure? Pennsylvania Democrats wanted a real Democratic candidate, not a party-switching Republican. That certainly doesn’t speak to voters wanting to move rightward.

Remember how just last week the New York Times told us that the battle for Jack Murtha’s congressional seat was the real midterm bellweather? Democrat Mark Critz won that race handily, which today the Times refers to as simply "a bright spot" in a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment. Hmm. Can't help but think what the headline would be today had Critz been a Tea Party candidate.

That makes ten straight special elections to fill House seats in which Democrats have either retained or stolen a seat. You have to go back to May 2008, when Steve Scalise replaced Bobby Jindal, to find a Republican victory. (Of course, Scott Brown won a special election in January. But the GOP probably has more realistic hopes of flipping the House in November if there is a genuine “wave” a la 1994.)

So just to recap: when a Tea Party candidate wins a primary race, it's the sign that Democrats are in trouble and the Tea Party is a force to be reckoned with. When MoveOn candidates win their primary race, it's a sign that Democrats are in trouble and there's an "anti-incumbent mood" among the voters.